CN115743563A

CN115743563A - Front engine attachment system for aircraft engine with compact structure

Info

Publication number: CN115743563A
Application number: CN202211078960.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: M·贝约特; T·罗比格里奥
Original assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
Current assignee: Airbus Operations SAS
Priority date: 2021-09-03
Filing date: 2022-09-05
Publication date: 2023-03-07
Also published as: US20230072158A1; FR3126695A1; EP4144647A1; EP4144647B1; US11975857B2

Abstract

The invention relates to a front engine attachment system (150) having: an engine pylon having a front rib secured against a front face (163), a front engine attachment (160) having a beam (162) secured to the front rib, two levers (164, 166) hinged to the beam (162) via two connection points (170 a-b) and one connection point (170 d), respectively, and a front housing (103) of the engine, wherein the first lever (164) is hinged to the front housing (103) via a connection point (170 c), and wherein the second lever (166) is hinged to the front housing (103) via a connection point (170 e), wherein each connection point (170 a-b, 170 d) of a lever (164, 166) to a beam (162) is positioned within a volume extending the front face (163) of the engine pylon forward. Such front engine attachment systems have a reduced volume and therefore have less drag.

Description

Front engine attachment system for aircraft engine with compact structure

Technical Field

The present invention relates to a front engine attachment system for an aircraft engine, and to an aircraft having at least one such front engine attachment.

Background

Aircraft usually have at least one engine, in particular a jet engine. Under each wing, for each engine, the aircraft has an engine pylon fastened to the wing structure and extending under the wing, the engine being suspended under the engine pylon.

The engine is secured to the engine pylon by means of an engine attachment system comprising a forward engine attachment and an aft engine attachment.

Fig. 6 shows a prior art front engine attachment 600 having a beam 602 secured to the front face of the engine pylon and two rods 604a-b secured between the collets of the beam 602 and the collets of the front housing 606 of the engine via ball joint connections.

The engine pylon takes the form of a box having a forward rib 608, the beam 602 being fastened to the forward rib 604 by fastening bolts 610, the fastening bolts 610 gripping the forward rib 606 and the beam 602.

With this arrangement, the connection points of the rods 604a-b to the beam 602 are disposed on the sides of the engine pylon and the forward rib 608, which creates a relatively large footprint. Due to this large volume, the fairing surrounding the front engine attachment 600 also has a large size, creating significant drag.

Although such a front engine attachment is satisfactory from the point of view of its use, it is necessary to find a different architecture that makes it possible to obtain a front engine attachment that is less bulky, allowing the aerodynamic surfaces to be optimized.

Disclosure of Invention

One object of the present invention is to propose a front engine attachment system, the connection point of the rod of which is located in the confined space defined by the projection of the front face of the engine pylon.

To this end, a front engine attachment system for an aircraft engine is proposed, having:

an engine pylon having a front face and a front rib fastened against the front face,

-a front engine attachment having: a beam fastened to the front of the front rib, a first bar fastened in an articulated manner to the beam via two connection points, and a second bar fastened in an articulated manner to the beam via one connection point, an

A front housing of the engine, wherein the first lever is hingedly secured to the front housing via a connection point, and wherein the second lever is hingedly secured to the front housing via a connection point,

wherein each connection point of the rod to the beam is located within a volume extending forward of a front face of the engine pylon.

Such front engine attachment systems have a reduced volume and therefore have less drag.

Advantageously, for each connection point of the rod to the beam, the beam has a female jaw in which the rod is positioned.

Advantageously, the beam is composed of a main plate, a secondary plate parallel to the main plate and blocks forming spacers between the main plate and the secondary plate, the main plate being pressed against the front rib, one wall of said female clip being realized by the main plate and the other wall of said female clip being realized by the secondary plate, for each female clip of the beam.

The invention also proposes an aircraft having a structural element according to one of the aforementioned variants, an engine and a front engine attachment system, wherein the engine pylon is fastened to the structural element and wherein the front housing is integral with the engine.

Drawings

The above and other features of the present invention will become more apparent upon reading the following description of an exemplary embodiment, which is given with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a side view of an aircraft according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of a front engine attachment system according to the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view from the rear of the engine attachment system of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the front engine attachment system of FIG. 2 taken along line IV-IV;

FIG. 5 is an exploded perspective view of the front engine attachment of FIG. 2; and

fig. 6 is a front view of a prior art front engine attachment system.

Detailed Description

In the following description, position-related terms are considered with respect to an aircraft in a forward motion position, i.e. as shown in fig. 1, wherein arrow F shows the direction of forward motion.

Fig. 1 shows an aircraft 100 with an engine 102, in particular a jet engine, which is fastened below an engine pylon 104, which is itself fastened below a wing 106.

In the following description, by convention, the X direction is the longitudinal direction of the engine 102, with a positive orientation along the direction of advance of the aircraft 100; the Y direction is the lateral direction of the engine 102, which is horizontal when the aircraft is on the ground; and the Z direction is the vertical direction or vertical height when the aircraft 100 is on the ground, the three directions X, Y, and Z being orthogonal to each other.

The engine 102 has an overall shape exhibiting rotational symmetry about the longitudinal axis X.

In the embodiment of the invention shown in FIG. 1, aircraft 100 has engines 102 under each wing 106 of aircraft 100, but multiple engines may be provided under each wing 106.

Fig. 2 shows a front engine attachment system 150, which front engine attachment system 150 is secured to a structure of the aircraft 100, in this case the wing 106, and extends below the wing 106 and supports the engine 102, in particular the front of the engine 102. Fig. 3-5 illustrate different views of the front engine attachment system 150.

The forward engine attachment system 150 includes the engine pylon 104 and a forward engine attachment 160, the engine pylon 104 being secured to a structure of the wing 106, the forward engine attachment 160 being secured between the engine pylon 104 and a forward casing 103 integral with the engine 102.

Conventionally, the aft engine attachment is secured between the engine pylon 104 and the aft portion of the engine 102, and may take any form known to those skilled in the art.

In a known manner, the engine pylon 104 takes the form of a box having, in particular at its front portion, a front rib 110 extending in a substantially vertical plane perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X.

The engine pylon 104 has an upper wall 104a, a lower wall 104b, and two lateral walls 104c-d. The respective walls 104a-d are integral with one another to form a box having a generally trapezoidal vertical cross-section. The front rib 110 is secured against the front face 163 by any known means, such as by welding. The front face 163 corresponds to the front ends of the walls 104a-d and takes the general shape of a trapezoid bounded by the walls 104 a-d.

Front engine attachment 160 has a beam 162 that is fastened to the front of front rib 110 via three fastening points 162 a-c. In this case, each fastening point 162a-c is realized by a clamping bolt which grips the front rib 110 and the beam 162 and passes through a bearing which passes through a hole provided for this purpose in the front rib 110 and the beam 162.

The front engine attachment 160 also has a first rod 164. The first lever 164 is hingedly secured to the beam 162 via two connection points 170a-b and hingedly secured to the front housing 103 via a third connection point 170 c.

The front engine attachment 160 also has a second rod 166, a first end of which is hingedly secured to the beam 162 via a connection point 170d and a second end of which is hingedly secured to the front housing 103 via a connection point 170 e.

At each connection point 170a-e, the fastening is ensured by fastening elements known to the person skilled in the art, which in this case are inserted into holes in the beam 162 or in the front housing 103 and into holes in said

rods

164, 166.

In particular, each connection point 170a-e takes the form of a pivotal connection about a pivot axis that is substantially parallel to the longitudinal direction X.

In the embodiments of the invention presented herein, for each

connection point

170c, 170e of the

rods

164, 166 to the front housing 103, the front housing 103 has a female collet piece in which the

rods

164, 166 are positioned.

In the embodiments of the invention presented herein, for each

connection point

170c, 170e of the

rods

164, 166 to the beam 162, the beam 162 has a female collet piece 180a-b, 180d in which the

rods

164, 166 are positioned.

Each connection point 170a-b, 170d of the

rods

164, 166 to the beam 162, i.e. in this case the axis of each female clip member 180a-b, 180d of the beam 162, is located within a volume extending forwardly of the front face 163 of the engine pylon 104 generally in the longitudinal direction X. As shown in fig. 2, wherein the edges of the front face 163 are depicted partially by solid lines and partially by dashed lines, the female collet pieces 180a-b, 180d are all within the volume defined by the edges and are located forward of the front rib 110.

As a result of this arrangement, the front engine attachment 160 is more compact and therefore its volume is reduced, and this makes it possible to put the fairing around the front engine attachment 160 in place, which has smaller dimensions relative to the prior art and therefore reduced drag.

In the embodiments of the invention presented herein, the fastening elements have, for each connection point 170a-b, 170d associated with the beam 162, in particular, bearings that are received in holes in the

rods

164, 166 and in two holes in the associated female clip member 180a-b, 180 d.

Fig. 2 shows the force distribution in normal operation of the front engine attachment 160.

For safety reasons, the front engine attachment system 150 also has an additional connection point 202 between the beam 162 and the front housing 103, which constitutes a back-up safety connection point (or "fail-safe") that will compensate for a failure of the primary force path, i.e. of at least one of the

rods

164, 166. Additional connection points 202 are provided between the

rods

164 and 166 and the

connection points

170c and 170e of the front housing 103.

Likewise, one of the fastening points 162b between the beam 162 and the front rib 110 constitutes a backup safety fastening point (or "fail-safe"), which will compensate for a failure of the main force path, i.e. of at least one of the other two

fastening points

162a, 162 c.

The beam 162 is comprised of a main plate 182, a secondary plate 184 parallel to the main plate 182, and blocks 186 forming spacers between the main plate 182 and the secondary plate 184.

The main plate 182 is pressed against the front rib 110 at the front of the front rib 110, and the sub-plate 184 is in front of the main plate 182.

The main plate 182 has holes therethrough that enable the fastening points 162a-c to be formed and holes that enable the creation of additional connection points 202.

For each female jaw member 180a-b, 180d of the beam 162 used to place the

rods

164, 166, one wall of the female jaw members 180a-b, 180d is realized by a main plate 182 and the other wall of the female jaw members 180a-b, 180d is realized by a sub-plate 184, and each

plate

182, 184 has a corresponding hole therethrough.

Claims

1. A front engine attachment system (150) for an engine (102) of an aircraft (100), the front engine attachment system (150) having:

-an engine pylon (104) having a front face (163) and a front rib (110) fastened against said front face (163);

-a front engine attachment (160) having: a beam (162) fastened to the front of the front rib (110), a first bar (164) fastened in an articulated manner to the beam (162) via two connection points (170 a-b), and a second bar (166) fastened in an articulated manner to the beam (162) via one connection point (170 d); and

-a front housing (103) of the engine (102), wherein the first lever (164) is hingedly secured to the front housing (103) via a connection point (170 c), and wherein the second lever (166) is hingedly secured to the front housing (103) via a connection point (170 e);

wherein each connection point (170 a-b, 170 d) of the rod (164, 166) to the beam (162) is positioned within a volume extending forward of a front face (163) of the engine pylon (104).

2. The front engine attachment system (150) of claim 1, wherein for each connection point (170 a-b, 170 d) of the rod (164, 166) to the beam (162), the beam (162) has a female collet piece (180 a-b, 180 d) in which the rod (164, 166) is positioned.

3. The front engine attachment system (150) of claim 2, wherein the beam (162) comprises a main plate (182), a secondary plate (184) parallel to the main plate (182), and a block (186) forming a spacer between the main plate (182) and the secondary plate (181), wherein the main plate (182) presses against the front rib (110), and wherein, for each female clip (180 a-b, 180 d) of the beam (162), one wall of the female clip (180 a-b, 180 d) is realized by the main plate (182) and the other wall of the female clip (180 a-b, 180 d) is realized by the secondary plate (184).

4. An aircraft (100) having a structural member, an engine (102), and a front engine attachment system (150) according to claim 1, wherein an engine pylon (104) is secured to the structural member, and wherein a front housing (103) is integral with the engine (102).